A good safe will not be penetrated by a burglar. Make sure it is bolted down to a solid floor. Unless they are extremely well prepared, and are planning on breaking into a safe (like they know what you have), they're not going to get in.

If you buy a fifty dollar safe, well, all bets are off.

Mount it properly, and it'll be there when you get home!

Of course, a decent security system will do wonders. Fortify your house at all entry points. Etc, etc. Do you live in a bad neighborhood?

If you won't spend the money to put up a solid core back door with deadbolt locks, you had better be prepared to put everything of value into your expensive safe.

If you won't monitor your kid's friends and have your kid keep his trap shut, your chances of finding things stolen go up. Yeah, I had that sinking feeling when I saw my stuff in the other kid's living room and his mother was clueless as to how it got there.

Grated screen door? The woman next door complained about someone walking in on her - and still hasn't put up a decent screen door with a one way deadbolt.

Safes are not proof, they are resistant... same way as kevlar vests are to bullets.

Bolt it or at least load it down so much that unless they can prepared with a dolly, they ain't moving it with just a few dudes trying to grab *** it.

I shoved mine in a hard to access locale with near impossible logistics unless you know what you are doing and loaded it down to some obscene weight... plus my dog and alarm system and half a block full of nosy, retired neighbors with no kids, means that what we have now in this area is hot burgs where they come in while you are home.

I see similar statistics everywhere; typically something like 35% thru the front door, 22% thru the back door and 24% thru a first-floor window. I assume it must be true in a lot of places, since everyone says it's the case. But in Arkansas, after 19 years in the alarm system world and 11 years of law enforcement, I've seen only one instance of a burglar coming in thru a window; and that was just last year.

Around here, it's more like 90% thru a kicked-in door. Maybe in the more urban areas, people are better about having reinforced doors, which would make windows a more inviting target...? I don't know, but I've only seen window-entry the one time. And even that one time, the window entry was done at the second burglary of the property. It was a nice hunting lodge (closed during off-season), and they broke in the first time by simply kicking in the back door. The manager got the door repaird and put up some game cameras, and the second time, the burglar(s) came in thru the back kitchen window above the sink, and stole the game cameras when they left. That shouldn't be funny, but even the manager eventually laughed about it.

Now they've got a good system (); one that not only sounds a siren & calls the authorities, but also sends video clips to their phones when there's an incident.

Still don't understand the discrepancy between the common statistics and what I've seen for years here in arkansas; but around here, it's doors at least 90 percent of the time...

Well, that video surely makes me feel great. I own a cheaper Liberty I bought at Sams Club about 7 years ago. I'm guessing that's pretty much worthless. I was about to upgrade to a Bighorn from Costco. Maybe that won't be good enough.

If you won't spend the money to put up a solid core back door with deadbolt locks, you had better be prepared to put everything of value into your expensive safe.

If you won't monitor your kid's friends and have your kid keep his trap shut, your chances of finding things stolen go up. Yeah, I had that sinking feeling when I saw my stuff in the other kid's living room and his mother was clueless as to how it got there.

Grated screen door? The woman next door complained about someone walking in on her - and still hasn't put up a decent screen door with a one way deadbolt.

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bdcochran sort of has it all here.

Burglars work in two speeds. Smash/Grab/Run and Planned out/Methodical. However there are also the opportunistic criminals who see an easy entrance in your house, and maybe they will steal stuff and leave, or maybe the will look for a woman or girl in the house to rape, or maybe they want to grab you or a loved one and force them to get all the money, drugs, and valuables in the house to maximize their profits then they may beat,kill, or rape for fun afterwards.

The young kid smash and grab attacks and the Opprotunistic ones can be slowed down or stopped with an Alarm system, good lighting outside, a big dog, good locked doors and window, keeping things like Guns and valuables in a safe that is bolted to the floor. It will all help.

Any security measure can be defeated with a well thought out plan. The way to defeat these smart criminals is to not present yourself as a possible target. Don't boast or blab that you have a lot of cash or guns in the house.

If you are talking about economic decline and things getting worse, you are right. As the economy gets worse the "Have Nots" will come after the "Haves" more often.

Well, that video surely makes me feel great. I own a cheaper Liberty I bought at Sams Club about 7 years ago. I'm guessing that's pretty much worthless. I was about to upgrade to a Bighorn from Costco. Maybe that won't be good enough.

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Don't jump the gun. Is yours bolted to floor? Here's what I saw wrong with the video.

1) It was empty and very easy to tip over.
2) If it had been bolted they wouldn't have been able to "work" together as easily with it standing up.
3) maybe those guys were not pros but they have done that before and had exactly what they needed going in.
4) Right at the end one of the guys goes to lift the door effortlessly. I don't have a bizzillion dollar safe but I removed my door to make it easier to get in the house and I'll bet it weighed at least 150lbs.

I agree that you get what you pay for but that doesn't mean you have to spend 3k to get a decent safe.

It's bolted down, but I've been looking to upgrade for a while now. I want something with room for ammo, magazines, and other important family valuables. Would a more expensive Liberty be up there with Knox? If I can hold out until Jan or Feb I know Cabelas has employee pricing coupons which work on them. 2" thick, heavy gauge steel with 360 degree 1" bolts will be something I look for.

Break-ins actually worry me the most pre-SHTF, assuming it's a gradual decline due to the economy. Like Bilbo said, people are going to become more desperate as time goes on. The way my preps are stored in Rubbermaid tubs, I could lose a lot in a very short amount of time.

My neighborhood is in a good area with modest homes. Nothing that stands out, but I still don't think it's a mistake to do what I can now.

One thing I don't know how to secure are my lower level windows (literally on ground level). I have wooden dowels in the window track, but that's about it.

Now they've got a good system (); one that not only sounds a siren & calls the authorities, but also sends video clips to their phones when there's an incident.

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The security cameras tied in with phones/ipods/ithingys is becoming very common. I know people that have motion detecting and infra red security cameras around their house, with wireless communication with their ipad thing. A few unobtrusive cameras can cover your whole perimeter. I don't know how much these systems cost, but I wouldn't be surprised if the price will drop (or is dropping now) in the near future.

Neighbors are a big thing, if you get along with them. We tell our neighbors when we will be away, they keep an eye on our house.

Get a Knox or something heavy duty name brand. If you go cheap, it's going to work against a casual smash and grab guy, but won't even deter a professional for any more than 30 seconds.

You can YouTube videos of safe cracking all day and sometimes, they don't even crack it, they just pound it until it caves and they can crowbar and pry it out with cheaper safes.

That's one reason that I specified 2" thick, heavy gauge steel with 360 degree 1" bolts all around. Makes it that much tougher to crack.

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Do you mean it has 2" composite walls, or 2" of steel in the wall? Can you send me a link. About the heaviest gauge steel I have seen for a gun safe is 1/4" maybe 3/8". Above 1" is usually a TL15 or TL30 safe, which most gun safes are not even TL rated.

...I don't know how much these systems cost, but I wouldn't be surprised if the price will drop (or is dropping now) in the near future...

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Big consideration is monthly fee. We use honeywell's service, and while our normal security monitoring service for alarm systems is only $24, once you add the necessary cellular capability & honeywell's fee, it's a little over $40 a month. It's worth it (obviously, I think so), as it lets you check on your system to make sure you armed it when you left, can text you not just when there's an alarm, but can also text you even when your kids disarm it when they get home from school, etc. With the newer systems, you can even control Z-wave devices like thermostats, locks, etc. If you've been on vacation; you can call up your system and tell your heat or air-conditioning to turn on before you get there. If you have an armload of groceries when you get home in the evening; you push a button on a keyfob remote and it disarms your system but also unlocks your deadbolt, etc.

Anytime I see an advertisement for one of those "teenage-girl-alone-in-the-house-with-a-crazed-caller-terrorizing-her" movies, I think how handy it would be for her to be able to remotely lock all the deadbolts with a push of a single button.

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